October 2014 – News

The New Economics Foundation has asked: where have all the sea bass gone? The report states that high fishing intensity means that the biomass of bass had diminished to the point that it may not be possible for the species to bounce back. The future for bass could be bleak unless commercial catch rates are massively reduced and a minimum size is introduced for this species. There was some good news as it was stated that in areas where bass stocks had been properly managed the numbers had increased. Read the report here.

Apparently a crab measuring 50ft across was spotted at Whitstable in Kent. A picture taken from the air appeared to show the huge crustacean – dubbed Crabzilla – just under the surface of the water outside of Whitstable Harbour. Despite the fact that this is an obvious hoax and anyone with a basic knowledge of Photoshop could create this image, a large number of mainstream media outlets ran with this story, including the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, ITV.com, Huffington Post and the Daily Express. See the Daily Mirror article which includes the image by clicking here.

Google have had to ensure that the undersea cables used to connect the US and Brazil are shark proof. The fibre-optic cables can carry huge amounts of data and are used to help Brazil to develop a wider internet infrastructure. However, the old cables would be severed damaged by shark bites, meaning that the new cable have had to be specially reinforced to ensure that they are shark-proof. Read more here.

In other news it was reported that Roker Pier in Sunderland – an immensely popular sea angling venue – was set to re-open to the public and anglers in November. The pier had closed in June for resurfacing and other maintenance work, meaning that the venue could not be fished for the majority of the summer mackerel season. However, the good weather over the summer has meant that the work was ahead of schedule and the pier was set to re-open sometime in November.